Cheap Girl Toys: Perfect Shoes For Haitian Kids

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Perfect Shoes For Haitian Kids

No one had told the 75 children from Cargena in Port-au-Prince on Thursday they would be receiving new shoes, straight from the evidence locker of the Fort Myers Police Department. The fact is that their chapped feet were caked with mud.Their thin sandals were flimsy, worn to the soles.Â

“I want to say thank you, thank you so much for this,” said 13-year-old Cassondre Thomas, sporting gleaming white and pink sneakers. “They feel so comfortable. I’m so happy right now.”Â

The knockoff Nikes – almost 1,200 in all – were seized as part of an investigation after 32-year-old Hathum Ayesh was arrested and charged in 2008 with possession of counterfeit goods at his Citgo station on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.Â

He later completed a diversion program to avoid prosecution.Â

Reporter Rachel Revehl and photographer Andrew West are back in Haiti, where they are following local missionaries and doctors.Â

Then the Jan. 12 earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince, leaving hundreds of thousands to navigate through mountains of debris and trash with flip-flops (ugg fluff flip flop sandals).Â

At the urging of the state attorney’s office and Fort Myers Police Capt. Dennis Eads, Lee Circuit Judge Edward Volz Jr. ordered the shoes released earlier this month, after Nike offered no objection to the shoes being sent to Haiti.Â

A pair of cheap ugg boots can warm their heart. Several dozen boxes arrived at the compound of Hope for Haiti, a Naples-based nonprofit organization, on Tuesday. The organization has been stationed in the country for years, but recently focused on meeting the critical needs of earthquake victims.Â

The children ages 6 to 12 are all now living in tents with their families – or what is left of their families – after their homes were destroyed. Little Brothers and Sisters, a Haitian organization, has been organizing activities for the children outside the camp on a daily basis.Â

On Thursday, the children sang songs of welcome to the Hope for Haiti workers as they unloaded cardboard boxes, packed to the brim.Their eyes widened as they were lined up, chattering in escalated excitement as, one-by-one, pairs were fished out and handed to them.Â

They gleefully grabbed the footwear and raced to the nearby field, where they began trying them on, and switching.Â

Many seemed confused by the laces, and several workers knelt to help tie them.Â

There are more shoes set to be delivered in the coming weeks as Hope for Haiti works to secure safe places to distribute them.

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